ABU MUQAWAMA ON the exodus of the captains: "There is so much that is absolutely %$#@ed in the way the U.S. Army is handling its young officers that it might take decades to fix this." Somebody should start.
UPDATE: A lengthy email from reader Patrick Walsh. Click "read more" to read it.
LATER: A couple of responses to Walsh, also after the jump.
Patrick Walsh emails:
I was commissioned in 1979, you know, back when only losers joined the Army (I attended college on an academic scholarship, lettered in crew for 4 years and my boat made the finals of the Dad Vails in my senior year, I graduated Magna Cum Laude, with General College Honors; I was accepted at three Law Schools). I retired in 1996. Periodically every 5 or 7 years during my career there would be a spike in junior officers leaving the service...they were always described as the best and brightest. You know, leaving just us losers, careerists and bureaucrats behind. Yet in 1991 our Army smoked the Iraqis in something like 100 hours. 5 Years after I left the service our Army had forces on the ground in Afghanistan within two or three weeks after 9/11 and in the last 6 years have done more with less and with fewer casualties (civilian and military) than any force in history in any comparable situation, at least that I can think of. I am pretty proud of the Army I and the other losers helped build. I watched guys that I taught as a tactics instructor appear on TV as battalion commanders. Friends of mine are senior officers. I am proud of them. I gotta think there are a lotta cubicle dwellers in their 40's and 50's facing their second company takeover wishing they had stayed in.
Now here is a little secret...I always intended to get out of the Army after I left company command, which was in my 6th year of service. But, there was always one more neat thing to do and before I know it I was in for a career. During that time I watched a lot of other guys get out. Many of them were good guys but very few were the best and brightest. A lot of guys left as soon as their initial obligations were up because, like me, they never intended to make the Army a career...they wanted to do their service and then move on. Some others left because they felt that the Army didn't properly recognize just how great a favor they were doing the nation by their service. Some other left because being in the service is just tough, and there are usually a few years in everyone's career that just are not fun. Others left because while they might have good to excellent resume's they got themselves into some trouble that killed their career...a DUI maybe, or they were insubordinate or lied, or they slept with someone else's wife or someone in their chain of command. That stuff doesn't necessarily show up in the statistics...the officer gets a less than outstanding Officer Evaluation Report or a Letter of Reprimand and they know their career is over and they resign. Just because someone graduated from West Point or was Distinguished Military Graduate in ROTC and they have all the scare badges (Airborne, Ranger, CIB, Pathfinder etc) doesn't mean they are the "best and brightest" - EVERY Infantry Officer has the scare badges.
I don't know whether there is a real problem or not but I wouldn't make my decision on a one or two year spike, or a few articles, some written by folks with an axe to grind and some written by the misinformed.
And yes, sometimes the personnel system does do some really screwy things and promotion boards make some strange decisions...but in general, it is pretty good for a large organization.
Large organizations specialize in strange decisions.
MORE: Another reader emails:
I read Patrick Walsh's letter and even though I was a Non-Commissioned Officer (I retired in 2006 after 30 years, two wars, and a so-called "peace-keeping mission) I can relate to many of the issues he discussed. It's for no small reason that many young Captains start receiving job offers from Corporate head-hunters. They are well aware of the fork in the road which every Officer and NCO reaches at a certain point in their career. For NCOs, it's usually past the 10 year mark. At that that point, you're considered a "career Soldier". For Officers, it's usually the rank of Major. I stayed in for many reasons (it wasn't 'for the money', believe me) and made it to Sergeant First Class in spite of some of the infractions described in his e-mail. I was from the "old school Army" where you weren't considered a good Soldier unless you had at least one Article 15. I know many Command Sergeant Majors who accumulated a few of them. My personal mistakes never affected my dedication to my Army or my country, but I digress.
In any case, he makes a very good point about the fact that the Army does not do well enough to retain good, young leaders. Those of us who stayed for the long haul had to think beyond the bureaucratic bullshit and focus on taking care of our troops and "Duty, Honor, Country".
SFC Cheryl McElroy
US ARMY (RET)
And a response to Patrick Walsh from a reader who's still serving, and requests anonymity:
Several years ago, the senior leadership was blaming "the new generation" of officers for the high numbers exiting the Army. They kept saying we weren't dedicated like them and we didn't have the same view of service. When I came in the Army in '86 the Army was a different organization. We trained hard and partied hard. After the draw down in the early 90s, only the cut throat officers survived. Zero defects was the rule of the day. The Army was no longer fun. Any mistake was the end of your entire chain of command's career. No drinking, no risk taking, etc. Bottom line, these leaders had their fun and then took it away from my generation of officers. In my unit, I was the first officer to go to the Officer Advanced Course in two years. Every single young officer that was in front of me got out. Not all of them were the "best and brightest" but then not every officer is -- however our best and brightest Captain got out. He ended up working on Wall Street.
There is something peculiar to the problem in the Army. We have raised a generation of senior officers that don’t work well with others. I was stationed at a Navy base working at a Joint assignment. There were five Army guys (three officers and two senior enlisted). After about six months, the entire cadre wanted to shoot the two LTC’s on the Army staff. Why? They wanted to be the heroes at work and wouldn’t share information with the rest of the staff. At one point, there was open revolt at a training meeting when the LTC’s informed us that all the work we had done in the past two weeks was pointless because they had changed the entire plan weeks ago and didn’t tell us. Majors and Captains were yelling at them. It was interesting for me because I was used to this kind of leadership and the feedback I got from the Navy, Marines, and Air Force personnel is that they had never seen anything like it.
The article that LTC Walsh is poo-pooing is dead on. In fact, we addressed this article in my class at CGSC this past Thursday and everyone in the room agreed with it, including the retired officers on staff.
I'm just glad people are paying attention.
STILL MORE: Another reader email:
Having read the Washington Monthly article in question and some of the comments you have published, I feel compelled to send a few thoughts on the subject.
In 1970, I became one of the Regular Army Captains who left the service, in my case after five years of active duty. I had served in Vietnam and Germany and other places and had seen the full range of senior officers, from tyrants to secular saints. In Vietnam, some of these individuals perfumed marvelously, and others made errors of judgment which resulted in needless casualties. When I unburdened my 27-year old heart on these matters to a very savvy Major, his very adult response was "What the hell did you expect , anyway?" He reminded me that I had made an extensive study of American military history, and asked me if I could recall a single American military campaign that had not featured episodes of stupidity, self-serving actions, or near criminal neglect by a few American commanders. We briefly discussed five or six wars and it was quite easy to grasp his point. The fact is that the Army is made up of human beings of widely varying capabilities. As with any imperfect institution (I could not name a perfect one, by the way) sometimes the wrong people will be promoted and some of the best will wither due to just plain bad luck. I could go through a Rogue's Gallery of American Generals who were unfit for their commands, to include many revered names in the Second World War, but I see no point, as any student of military history could do the same thing without much effort.
My reasons for leaving the active Army were personal in nature, having to due with stresses on my family that I could not resolve in the active Army. Thus, I can readily empathize with the family issues outlined in the Washington monthly article. Also, I, like any Captain of my age and experience, could have filled any number of newspaper columns with anecdotal stories of this Colonel or that General who was a blockhead and who was nonetheless promoted. This made me no different than thousands of other junior officers dating back to 1776 and the Continental Army.
After leaving the Army, I completed an MBA and law degree and prospered in the investment business. After thirty years in two firms, having spent my last eight years as President of one of them, I could easily provide a series of anecdotes about successful Wall Street people of my acquaintance who were despicable, stupid, greedy, or all three and who still made large fortunes due to perseverance, dumb luck or family connections. Once again, what would be the point of recounting these tales as they merely prove that Wall Street too is an imperfect institution.
Sadly, many officers who leave the service came into it with an idealistic portrait of the Army, only to be disappointed when they learned that some of their idols had clay feet. Based on the Washington Monthly interviews and the naive statements which some of the law student officers made about their expectations in the legal and financial worlds, I fear they will face disappointment yet again. There are few of my successful lawyer friends who over the years have not periodically cursed the profession they chose, when they were buried in depositions or contracts, or were suffering under the idiotic leadership of a well-positioned but foolish Managing Partner.
Rick Atkinson, author of "The Day of Battle" once commented that the Army is a living organism that absorbs those who enter it, and which somehow rejuvenates itself even when it has sustained serious blows. It will do so in the coming years, despite the regrettable loss of many talented junior officers.
When I left active duty in 1970, many of my friends also left, but many remained on duty through the terrible 1970s; then, they rebuilt the magnificent force which defeated Iraq in 1991. Who were the best and who were the brightest; those who left or those who stayed? There is no answer, for all these officers made choices and then lived with them. Those who had the determination and, importantly, a bit of good luck, prospered in the Army or in civilian life. Some, unlucky or unable to adapt to changing conditions, fell by the wayside. It is ever thus.
I was able to remain in the Army Reserve, retiring as Colonel after 30 years of total service; therefore, I consider myself most fortunate to have had, as it were, the best of both worlds.
To those officers who are leaving, I say God Bless you and thank you for your service in hard times. May your new efforts bring you prosperity and happiness. To those who remain, I say a special thank you, for you are the ones who will continue in the vital role as defenders of the nation. I have three grandchildren now, living in New York and Chicago and thus sitting on large bulls-eyes for the terrorists who would kill us all it they had the opportunity. I can do nothing to protect them anymore, so I thank you for doing the job for me. When the going is very hard, as it so often is in the Army, please think of two little girls in New York and a baby boy in Chicago, and know that their grandfather is ever grateful and wishes you Godspeed.
Lawrence R. Stack
Colonel, AUS (Ret.)
Lake Forest, Illinois
